To the Readers' Forum:
I recently had the great privilege of attending a program at the Robert H. Jackson Center which included very touching film on the holocaust. It was a very informative and heart-wrenching film of the millions of Jews who were killed, starved, beaten and separated from all their loved ones and their homes. Many were left with nothing, not even the clothes on their backs.
After the film Mr. Steve Massa from Warren spoke on the perpetrators that executed these Jews under the Nazi third reich which was under the rule of Adolf Hitler. These men were all tried and most convicted under the Nuremberg trials. He pointed out each man's part in the execution of the Jews and also their ultimate trial and consequences, most of whom were convicted and sentenced to die.
The interesting part of all this is that Robert H. Jackson was the chief prosecutor at these trials with his roots right here in Western N.Y. and Pennsylvania. He graduated from Frewsburg and also attended Jamestown for a year because Jamestown offered some subjects he could not get at Frewsburg at that time.
Mr. Jackson was the only Supreme Court justice who never graduated from law school. The biography of his life is well worth reading and what a legacy he left in the way he dealt with difficult decisions he had to make.
I strongly urge every school in Chautauqua County to take advantage of the programs presented at the Jackson Center. I think sometimes our schools dwell too much on ancient history with not enough emphasis on World War 2 and the impact it had on our nation and with a county native a very important part of this history.
Please, teachers, school board members and principals, make this trip to the program at the Jackson Center a part of your school's road trips.
It is so important for our young people to see what can and does happen under the rule of a dictator. And let us never forget the sacrifices made to keep our country free.
Esther Bly
Ellington